CTV News has learned two youths charged in a high-profile double homicide case had their first-degree murder charges downgraded even before charges were stayed.
Alberta Justice has confirmed the youths, who were 14 at the time of the shooting, had the charges quietly reduced to second-degree murder.
A trial was set to commence this September, but the Crown stayed the murder charges against the two accused, mainly because one of the statements made to police by one of the youths has been deemed inadmissible.
The bodies of Susan Trudel and Barry Boenke were found east of Ardrossan on an acreage two years ago.
The RCMP were led to Boenke's property after Edmonton police pulled over the two youths in a pickup truck registered to him. In March of last year, police were seeking the public's help in finding a firearm officers believed was used in the double homicide.
The youths fled from a treatment facility near Sherwood Park called Bosco Homes a day before their arrests. The facility has since been closed.
